Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

Thursday, June 02, 2011

A Denver Police sergeant has written a scathing e-mail to Manager of Safety Charles Garciasuggesting he is not qualified for the job, which includes disciplining officers, and telling the former public defender that to have him pass judgment on cops is an "an insult to everyone who puts on a uniform."

Sgt. Ricki Stern, of the Street Crime Attack Team wrote the e-mail, dated May 7, after Garcia appeared at a District 2 roll call, said Sgt. John Bronson, a member of the Denver Police Protective Association's executive board.

Neither Stern nor Garcia could be immediately reached for comment.

Garcia has fired seven officers since taking the post in March, and officers complain that he ignored recommendations from others in the chain of command for lighter discipline.

Today, Garcia fired Det. Jay Estrada. Estrada was accused of failing to actively investigate the Dec. 9, 2010 accident in Stapleton in which a pregnant woman was struck by a hit-and-run driver. Laurie Sherlock's nearly full-term son was delivered, but did not survive.

He was fired for "commission of a deceptive act."

Garcia, who has talked to officers at five of six police districts, answered some questions during the District 2 briefing by saying he wouldn't get into specifics, Bronson said.

When Officer Tyson Worrell, who works for Stern received a similar answer, he walked out, Bronson said. Worrell declined to comment.

"Ty says this is getting us nowhere or something along those lines. He gets up and he leaves, it's a voluntary thing, he doesn't have to be there," Bronson said.

Stern's e-mail begins: "Sir, I am Officer Worrell's direct supervisor here at the District Two police station and have counseled him on his behavior."

In the message, Stern writes that three of his officers were victims of felony assaults in a two week period and prior to that, another was kicked by a suspect and suffered an injury that will keep him out of work for as long as eight months.

The injured officer was kicked because he was afraid that using the force neccessary to remove the threat of a suspect wanted for armed robbery might cost him his job, Stern wrote.

The officer "didn't use the force necessary for the situation because violent use of force situations are and will always be ugly and he loves his job," Stern said in the e-mail.

He went on to write that Garcia had spent his career as a public defender to putting people back on the streets that cops have risked their lives to put in jail.

"I would recommend that you not come back to roll call because it will not change what we think of people that have chosen your profession," Stern wrote. "We have an over riding sense of justice and we know who needs to be fired and there have been several.